Project Navigator: Empowering your Elements Part I Written by: Bill Knittle, Synergis Building Solutions Engineer synergisexperts@synergis.com Rule of thumb in CAD is to find redundancy wherever possible. Less is more. With that in mind, have you ever had to design a dormitory, hotel, or hospital? In many cases, all three design types have a common denominator, the typical room. Enter the Element. In Part I of this series I will focus on the concepts and workflows to accomplish these types of projects. There, I said it. To really appreciate the power of this process, you must use the Drawing Management System of AutoCAD Architecture. This project will be a single loaded corridor with two typical unit types. Mapping out the parts will make it much easier on you and your design team when it comes to being productive. Figure 1 indicates the major components involved in laying out the model. This layout will include require the creation of three drawing files. One file will be the Construct. This will house the shell walls, common walls between units and, will serve as a host for the other two drawing files. The other two files will be the Elements. These will be the room configurations. Element “A” will be a mirror reflection of Element “B”. Before we begin this journey lets review the Drawing Management process in AutoCAD Architecture. Step 1 is to create the project and setup levels and divisions. Step 2 is to model the building. Step 3 is to creating working reports of the building model. Finally, step 4 is to create the sheets for plotting. Part I will walk you through steps 1 and 2. Step 1: Creating the Project Create the Project

1. Open the Project Browser. 2. Click the New Project button. 3. Check the Create from template project box. 4. Browse to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\ApplicationData\Autodesk\ACD-

A 2008\enu\Template\Template Project (Imperial)\ and select Template Project (Imperial).apj.

5. Click the OK button to create the project. 6. Close the Project Browser. Figure 2

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Common Walls

Corridor

Shell Walls Figure 1

The Project Browser palette will open

Set up the Project Levels 1. Select the Project tab on the Project Navigator. 2. Select the Edit Levels button. 3. In the Edit Levels dialog window, select the Description cell for Level 1 and enter

First Floor. 4. Click the OK button to exit the dialog window. Figure 3 The building is ready to be modeled.

Step 2: Model the Building Create a Construct assigned to the First Floor

1. Select the Construct tab on the Project Navigator. 2. Select the Construct category. 3. Click the New Category button. 4. Name the category “Shell Walls”.

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Project Tip! Create template projects to jump start your project.

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Project Tip! Create a Level for every floor in the building. Include mezzanine levels, roof levels, and the like.

5. Select the New Construct button. 6. In the Add Construct dialog window enter “01 Shell Walls”. 7. Under Assignments, check the box for Level 1. 8. Click the OK button to complete the creation of the construct. Figure 4

Block out the Shell Walls Construct for Level 1

1. Double-click the 01 Shell Walls construct in the Project Navigator to open it. 2. Select the Wall tool on the Design tab of the Palette Set. 3. In the Properties palette enter 11’-0” for Base Height. Figure 5

Project Tip! Create categories to help manage the various drawing files of the project

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4. Create the layout shown below. Figure 6 Magenta walls are Left justified. Green walls are Center justified.

5. Select the Door tool on the Design tab of the Palette Set. 6. In the Properties palette enter: Figure 7

3’-0” for Width 7’-0” for Base Height Offset/Center for Position along wall 6”for Automatic Offset

Project Tip! Create what is not redundant. The corridor, exterior, and common walls are unique.

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7. Add four single-hinged doors using the 6” offset as shown below. Figure 7

8. Add three 6’-0” x 7’-0” double doors as shown below. Figure 8

9. C the Door/Window Assembly tool on the Design tab of the Palette Set. 10. In the Properties palette enter: Figure 9

6’-0” for Length 5’-0” for Base Height Offset/Center for Position along wall 6”for Automatic Offset

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11. Center four windows in each room on the lowest horizontal wall. Figure 10

12. Mirror the windows to the top horizontal wall. Figure 11 Lay the ground work for the Element

1. Zoom in to the first room on the left. 2. Select inner horizontal corridor wall and right-click. 3. Select Add Selected from the Context Menu. 4. Create a closet as shown below. Figure 12

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5. Add a 5’-0” x 7’-0” Bifold-Double door centered on the lower horizontal closet door as shown below. Figure 13

6. Select the Space Generate tool on the Design tab of the Palette Set. 7. In the Properties palette enter: Figure 14

AEC objects, lines, arcs, polylines, and circles” for Filter boundary set 1” for Ceiling thickness 3’-5” for Height above ceiling 8’-6”for Ceiling height

8. Add four spaces as shown below. Figure 15

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Project Tip! In Options on the AEC Object Settings tab, verify that the Automatically update associative spaces is unchecked, for it could create problems downstream.

9. Using Design Tools Catalog in the Content Browser or AEC tab in the Design Center, furnish the lower-left room with: two Twin beds in Furnishings>Furniture>Beds two 36x18 Left desks in Furnishings>Furniture>Desk two Chair 5 chairs in Furnishings>Furniture>Chair Figure 16

The Element is blocked out and ready to be isolated. Creating an Element from a selection set

1. Select all the objects within the lower-left room. Figure 17 a. two partition walls b. one bifold double door c. two beds d. two desks e. two chairs f. two spaces

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Project Tip! If you over select objects, hold the Shift key down and select the objects you wish to remove from the selection set.

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2. Hover the cursor over any linework in the selection set and depress the left-mouse button and hold.

3. When the cursor icon changes from a crosshair to a drag icon, drag the selection set from the construct into the Project Navigator and release the left-mouse button when the cursor is over the Elements category.

4. Enter Typ Dorm Room Lt for the Name of the new Element in the Add

Element dialog window. 5. Click the OK button to create the Element. 6. View the results in the Project Navigator. 7. Save the construct 01 Shell Walls. Figure 19

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Project Tip! If you drag objects from a drawing into the Constructs tab and drop them into the appropriate category, the objects will be removed from the source and Project Navigator will create anew construct or element.

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8. Right-click on the newly created element in the Project Navigator. 9. Select Copy from the Context Menu. 10. Right-click on the Elements category in the Project Navigator. 11. Select Paste from the Context Menu.

12. Right-click on the copied Element Typ Dorm Room Lt (2). 13. Select Rename from the Context Menu. 14. Enter Typ Dorm Room Rt for the new name. 15. Click the Repath Xref button on the Project Navigator. 16. Click the Repath button in the Reference File Re-path Queue dialog window.

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17. The newly copied Element needs to have its contents mirrored. Double-click on the element Typ Dorm Room Rt to open it from the Project Navigator.

18. Select all the objects in the drawing file. 19. Mirror the objects by creating a vertical mirror line, 4-inches away from the

upper-right corner of the space object. (The common wall is 8” thick.)

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Project Tip! Windows clipboard options are also available within Project Navigator to make management of files easier for the user.

Project Tip! Project Navigator has the ability to resolve broken xref path created by relocation or renaming of project drawing files.

20. Enter Y to at the Erase source objects prompt. 21. Save and close the Element. Figure 223

Attaching the Element to the Construct

1. Right-click on the element Typ Dorm Room Lt. 2. Select Attach Element to Constructs… in the Context Menu. 3. Check the box for the construct 01 Shell Walls from the Attach Element to

Construct dialog window. 4. Click the OK button to attach the element. The element will link in at the exact

location it was created from. Figure 23

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5. Repeat steps 1-4 for the Typ Dorm Room Rt element. Figure 24

6. Open the External References palette by typing in XR or by going to the Insert menu and selecting External References.

7. Select the xref’d element Typ Dorm Room Lt. 8. Under Details, rename the element to Typ Dorm Room Lt 1. 9. Repeat steps 7-8 for the element Typ Dorm Room Rt. Rename it Typ Dorm

Room Rt 1. Figure 25

10. Right-click on the element Typ Dorm Room Lt. 11. Select Xref Attach from the Context Menu. 12. Repeat steps 7-8 for the element Typ Dorm Room Lt. 13. Rename it Typ Dorm Room Lt 2. Figure 26

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Project Tip! The Element will be attached as a new instance. It will also be inserted at the Element’s origin point. Therefore, it must be moved.

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Project Tip! By default, an element can only be attached once. Mirror copies or copies of the element will fail to have there walls cleanup. Therefore, to attach multiple elements the previous one must be renamed.

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14. Select the element in the first room. 15. Use the Move command to relocate it to the third room. Figure 27

16. Repeat steps 10-15 to attach the element Typ Dorm Room Rt, rename it to Typ Dorm Room Rt 4, and move it to the last room. Figure 28

You have successfully created a floor plan. Bear in mind that all modifications to a room layout must be made back in the Element drawing. Any changes will then be propagated to the Constructs in which it is attached via the external reference link. With one floor completed, you can move on to create the additional floors of the building model. Remember, less is more. Project Navigator’s productivity tools make it fairly easy to complete this process.

Create Two New Floor Levels

1. Switch to the Project tab on the Project Navigator. 2. Click the Edit Levels button. 3. Change the Floor to Floor Height value to 12’-0”. 4. Click the Add Level button twice. 5. Give the Level 2 a description of Second Floor and Level 3 a description of

Third Floor.

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6. Click the OK button. 7. In the AutoCAD warning dialog, click Yes to regenerate the project views. Figure

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8. Switch to the Constructs tab. 9. Right-click on the construct 01 Shell Walls. 10. Select Copy Construct to Levels… from the Context Menu. 11. Check the boxes for Second Floor and Third Floor in the Copy Construct to

Levels dialog window. 12. Click the OK button to create the additional constructs. 13. Review the new copies of the construct 01 Shell Walls. Figure 30

14. Right-click on the construct 01 Shell Walls (2). 15. Select Rename from the Context Menu. 16. Rename the construct 02 Shell Walls. 17. Repeat steps 14-16 to rename the construct 01 Shell Walls (3) to 03 Shell Walls.

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18. Click the Repath Xref button on the Project Navigator. Figure 31

19. Double-click on the 02 Shell Walls construct to open it. 20. Delete the two double doors, two 4” walls, and space from the construct. Figure

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21. Save and close the construct. 22. Repeat steps 19- 21 for the 03 Shell Walls construct.

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23. Double-click on the 01 Shell Walls construct to open it. 24. Right-click on the 02 Shell Walls construct and 25. Select Xref Overlay from the Context Menu. 26. Repeat step 24-25for the 03 Shell Walls construct. 27. Switch to a SE Isometric view to see the results. Figure 33

The Xref Overlay feature is only available when a construct is open. This allows the user to see the various constructs in context with one another. They can be detached at the user’s discretion. The next steps are to move on to create Views and Sheets. A very important step must first be taken in order to begin annotating. In Part II we will look at how to annotate views and schedule the project using elements reoccurring on multiple floors.

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